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A. Schulman Earnings Preview

A. Schulman (Nasdaq: SHLM) will try to beat its earnings estimates for the third consecutive quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, Jan. 5. A. Schulman is an international supplier of high-performance plastic compounds and resins.

What analysts say:

Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts think investors should stand pat on A. Schulman, with three out of five analysts rating it hold. Analysts don't like A. Schulman as much as competitor Kraton Performance Polymers overall. Four out of six analysts rate Kraton Performance Polymers a buy compared to two out of five for A. Schulman.

Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $618.8 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a rise of 24.9% from the year-ago quarter.

Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.42 per share. Estimates range from $0.36 to $0.54.

What our community says:CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 100% giving it an outperform rating. The community at large agrees with the All-Stars, with 87.3% assigning it a rating of outperform. Fools are keen on A. Schulman, though the message boards have been quiet latel, with only 43 posts in the past 30 days. The bullish CAPS rating of five out of five stars for A. Schulman outpaces Fool enthusiasm for the company.

Management:A. Schulman's income has fallen year over year by an average of 76% over the past five quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

12.3%

12.9%

13.1%

13.9%

Operating Margin

1.5%

3.9%

2%

2.8%

Net Margin

1%

3.1%

1.4%

1.9%

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